An unemployed father who caused more than £7,000 damage when he deliberately keyed a £100,000 Aston Martin in Hackeny has been spared jail after an appeal for leniency from the car’s owner.

The Aston Martin V8 Vantage was parked in a supermarket car park in Morning Lane on June 19 when it was vandalised by 48-year-old Gary Brissett.

Brissett, of Clissold Road, Hackney, was filmed on the luxury car’s dashboard camera approaching the vehicle pushing a baby in a pram.

He was caught on camera taking a bunch of keys from his pocket and scraping them down the passenger side.

The recorded footage went viral after it was shared by police on social media, reaching more than 8.5 million people.

Brissett pleaded guilty to causing criminal damage totalling £7,741 when he appeared at Thames Magistrates' Court.

Yesterday, the father-of-two and main carer to a 13-month-old baby was given an eight-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months.

He was also ordered to pay £750 compensation to car owner Oliver Hall.

In a statement, Mr Hall had appealed to magistrates not to jail Brissett, saying he did not want “to see the upbringing of his child permanently affected”.